Murder fear after parachute death fall

An experienced skydiver plunged 13,000ft to his death after his parachute had been tampered with, police revealed yesterday.

Detectives launched an inquiry after it emerged that Stephen Paul Hilder, a 20-year-old Officer Cadet at the Defence Academy in Shrivenham, near Swindon, Wiltshire was killed on Friday after his parachute failed to open.

Hilder had skydived more than 200 times and had successfully completed a jump earlier in the week. His body was found in a cornfield near Hibaldstow airfield near Brigg, Lincolnshire. He had made the jump with seven others, all of whom landed safely. His death is being treated as suspicious.

Detective Superintendent Colin Andrews, the senior officer investigating the case said: 'We are entirely satisfied that the pack the young man was wearing had been tampered with. This is extremely unusual. For this sort of organisation, safety is paramount.

'He had been due to jump on Wednesday, but the jump took place yesterday because of the weather. His equipment was checked on Wednesday night and stored away in good working order. He was extremely safety conscious.'

A spokeswoman for Humberside police said that both the main and safety parachutes failed to open and that there was absolutely no doubt the pack had been handled during the week. She said it could become a murder investigation.

She added: 'His family, who are from the Hereford area, have been informed and are aware that it is being treated as suspicious.'

There were only a few others from the Defence Academy at the week-long British Collegiate Parachute Associ ation's national competition. Hilder would have got to know other people during the week, which involved entrants camping or staying in bunk-houses.

The 70 people who were at the airfield when the tragedy happened, some of whom saw it unfold, have been interviewed by the police who made an appeal for anyone else who has been at the airfield over the past week to contact them. They are trying to establish where the skydiving equipment had been stored.

Andrews said: 'The fall was caught on video by people at the site. They were shocked and upset, but very co-operative. This is a tragic loss of a young man with a bright and promising future and it is a particularly horrendous way to die.'

Target Skysports Skydiving Centre, which runs events at the airfield, is the largest civilian parachute centre in the UK.

Steven Swallow, manager of the centre, said: 'We have been operating for 12 years. People come from across the country and from all over the world. I don't know of anything like this incident before.'

The organisation is part of the British Parachute Association which issues safety rules on the sport. John Hitchen, the national coach and safety officer, said that Hilder was clearly an experienced jumper and they would do everything they could to help the investigation.